Two new Imperial-led dementia projects funded by the Medical Research Council investment

The latest £16.5 million funding from the Medical Research Council (MRC) for experimental medicine dementia studies is designed to bring researchers, patients, and industry partners together to better understand how dementia develops. Two of the funded projects will be led by Imperial College London scientists, Dr Nir Grossman and Dr Alastair Webb.

The escalating challenge  

According to the Alzheimer’s Society, around one million people in the UK are living with dementia, and this figure is projected to rise to 1.4 million by 2040. Dementia brings significant personal challenges, including isolation, stigma, and loss of independence. 

Families shoulder around two-thirds of the costs, mainly through unpaid care and additional health and social care expenses. In 2024, the economic cost of dementia diagnosis and care in the UK reached £42 billion, and with the number of people affected continuing to rise, this is expected to reach £90 billion by 2040 – making dementia a critical public health challenge. 

Imperial studies: Sleep patterns and blood flow 

Imperial College London researchers are leading two innovative studies aimed at tackling dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. 

Dr Nir Grossman (Project title: Brain stimulation to support brain stability) at the UK Dementia Research Institute at Imperial College London will use a non-invasive brain stimulation technique to explore the relationship between sleep-related brain activity and brain excitability.

As Dr Grossman explained, “One of the major therapeutic bottlenecks in Alzheimer’s disease stems from a fundamental gap in understanding how cognitive impairments emerge from the pathology at the early stages. We hypothesise that neuronal hyperactivity due to reduced recovery sleep is a core mechanism that progresses Alzheimer’s disease into cognitive impairments.”  

The technique can be used to reduce overactivity in brain cells, which may contribute to early memory problems, and support better cognitive function in people with early-stage Alzheimer’s.“We are excited about this unique opportunity from the MRC support to test this important mechanistic hypothesis and a treatment strategy that augments brain activity during sleep”, summarised Dr Grossman.  

Dr Alastair Webb (Project title: Exploring new ways to improve brain blood flow), who leads the Imperial Small Vessel Disease Research Group, will investigate how targeting a promising pathway could help restore healthy blood flow in the brain. “Currently, there is no treatment for cerebral small vessel disease, the most common cause of dementia due to blood vessel problems (vascular dementia),” Dr Webb explained.  

The scientist emphasises that this situation is associated with poor control of blood flow to the brain. “This study will tease apart the responsible mechanisms and identify the best approach to improve them, leading to new clinical trials to test whether such drugs can reduce the risk of dementia in people with this common disease with a high morbidity,” said Dr Webb.  

Experimental medicine serving society  

The funded studies use an approach known as experimental medicine, which involves working directly with people to understand the biological changes that cause disease. All research teams were required to embed Patient and Public Involvement and Engagement in their proposals.

With support from Alzheimer’s Society, people with lived experience of dementia reviewed applications and provided feedback, which researchers acted on. This approach helped to better reflect what matters most to those living with these conditions. 

As Dr Richard Oakley, Associate Director of Research and Innovation at Alzheimer’s Society, said: “Involving people with lived experience of dementia at every stage of dementia research is vital, making sure the research is not only credible but above all relevant to the people impacted”. 

Inter-sector cooperations  

Each project will work with the Dame Barbara Windsor Dementia Goals programme to ensure that discoveries in experimental medicine contribute directly to speeding up the development of new treatments for dementia.  

“These studies are a great example of what can happen when industry, academia, charities and patients all work together to drive medical research forward”, said Science Minister Lord Vallance. “Boosting our understanding of some of the neurodegenerative diseases that can lead to dementia is critical to tackling this cruel illness. It will help us develop the treatments that will hopefully, one day, stop dementia in its tracks and spare so many families from the heartache it causes.”